One last exercise while I am waiting for Sim 2 to finish. (Anyone else noticing long sim times?)
Let's look at some of the same metrics for individual teams over the course of the sim. We'll look at at one randomly chosen team who started the 1990 season in each league.
We'll start with team 5. (The Paris Towers, for those who care)
The Towers started the sim in L1 with a a budget and payroll below league average- -$7M and -$2M, respectively. After 3 seasons in L1, they're relegated to L2, where they stay for 1 year. That year, the owner injects $3.5M into their budget. It could be because he felt that there was one free agent who could help their club back into L1. Could be that after three years of pulling money from the budget, he felt the pain of relegation.
The following year, they're relegated again. Again, the owner responds with a cash infusion. It doesn't work, and they are relegated again. The cash infusions from the owner begin to taper off as the Towers settle into life in L4. Each year from 1999 through the end of the sim, the owner pulls more and more cash from the budget.
However, the team's overall budget keeps climbing with inflation. By the end of the sim, the Towers' budget is 6% below league average.
Next, we will take a look at team 26 (the New England Reds).
The Reds start the sim in L2 and stay there for 2 years. At the end of the second season, they're relegated to L3, and we see a small cash infusion from the owner. Two more years, and they are relegated again. For their first year in L4, we see the same big infusion that we saw from the Towers. As if the owner says to himself, "We need to throw money at this problem!!" This only lasts for one year, as the Reds stay in L4 for 4 years.
Then we see something interesting. They're promoted at the end of the 1997 season (back to L3) and the owner responds by pulling the most money from the budget in franchise history. This reduction puts the Reds right around L3 average, but cuts their payroll to 12% below league average. Owners are fickle and not always logical, but this seems...fickle and illogical.
The Reds stay in L3 for 4 years this time, with owner cash coming back in the last two seasons. When they're relegated again in 2002, there's another large cash infusion. When they don't get promoted, however, cash starts going away again. That said, they end the 2005 season with a budget 35% above league average.